The 2,4,6-triphenylthiapyrylium ion has been obtained imprisoned inside the supercages of the tridirectional,
large pore zeolites Y and beta via ship-in-a-bottle synthesis from chalcone and acetophenone in the presence of
hydrogen sulfide. The resulting solids are efficient and robust photocatalysts that are able to degrade phenol and
aniline in water with a higher efficiency than the P-25 TiO2 standard. Preliminary tests have shown that these
encapsulated dye materials are also efficient photocatalysts for the oxidative degradation of malodorous sulfurcontaining
molecules.